Effect of optokinetic stimulation in patients with visual neglect

Three groups of subjects, normal controls, right brain damaged patients with and without heminattention, were required to bisect a line in presence of a fixed or a moving background. The stimulus moving horizontally toward the left or the right induced an optokinetic nystagmus with a slow phase coherent with the direction of the movement: together with the optokinetic nystagmus, a displacement of the subjective midpoint, as compared to the condition with a fixed background, was observed in all three groups of subjects. Within the right brain damaged with heminattention the displacement of the line bisection was great for stimuli moving toward the right, but a significant reduction of the left bias was present. In the same group of patients the effect of the optokinetic stimulation was present in a very large proportion of cases and proved to be relatively stable in a test-retest presentation. Theoretical relevance of these data and their potential importance for rehabilitation are discussed.